ResizeMe!
ResizeMe (or ResizeMe!) is a 3D Japanese size game currently in production, its development team consisting of MJ (programmer) and Aoigai (graphic artist) with support from Jukes and Alicemagic. The game was announced in May 2019 alongside the release of a free demo. Subsequent updates have been available to Patreon supporters. The game has VR functionality but can also be played without a headset. The game has not yet fully released and is expected to in 2020 on Steam. ResizeMe is narrative driven and allows for some degree of interactivity. Since announcement, its popularity has soared with many considering it a revolutionary step forward for games in the size community. Synopsis The players takes on the role of Makoto, a boy visiting his old childhood friend Chieri. She gradually makes him smaller and smaller as the game goes on using her smartphone. The story has elements of fantasy, adventure, exploration, and mystery. The game's narrative is gradually added to with each update and the developers have requested that videos, artwork, and articles do not spoil the story. Gameplay The game's narrative centres around Makoto and Chieri's relationship. Despite complaints that the game only serves an audience interested in cruel giantess interactions, the developers have suggested a branching narrative will allow for multiple endings. The player is able to view the story from a first or third-person perspective, although the former is advised, and an experimental "free play" feature allows the player to adjust the camera's position. Currently, the player has some degree of control over the narrative and can choose to play any unlocked scene from a scene selection menu at any point in the game, allowing for decisions to be revised. The player can make decisions that influence Chieri's mood through dialogue prompts and interactivity with the environment. Currently, such interactivity is limited to basic movement and object selection. There is a climbing mechanic that is utilised several times in the game. Early in the story, a homework minigame teaches the player how to unlock key information by focusing on "?" symbols throughout the world. This becomes useful later on. Some members of the community have begun to mod the game (see Modding below). However MJ and Aoigai have made it clear they do not condone this, at least at this stage. Development & Release History Pre-Development MJ and Aoigai had established themselves as popular contributors in the size fetish community prior to ResizeMe's demo release. MJ had developed games before such as the short but acclaimed Diary of Narue (Japanese: 成恵の日記) MJ's Diary of Narue - https://irafyou.blog.fc2.com/blog-entry-993.html, a fan-game based on the events of Shrink 'High (Syukusho Gakuen), another title in size fetish gaming. Aoigai, having worked on size fetish art for years, now has the role of graphic artist for ResizeMe. His work, a portion of which can be found on his Twitter Aoigai's Twitter Account - https://twitter.com/aoigai and DeviantArt Aoigai's DeviantArt Account - https://www.deviantart.com/aoigai/ accounts, usually involves women looming over cities, terrorising hapless people, and generally cruel content. This is reflected clearly in the game's narrative. 2018 In mid 2018, MJ and Aoigai both discussed the game on Twitter MJ's Twitter Account - https://twitter.com/MMJJMJJ, releasing early screenshots and concept art. At this stage, it is clear the game had mostly taken shape; the most notable difference between 2018 development screenshots and the 2019 demo was Chieri's uniform. Interestingly, the Eiffel Tower model is nowhere to be seen in screenshots from April 2018 (indicating the Eiffel Tower climbing scene had not been implemented), although an interactive yellow bubble can be seen on the ground near the desk which later plays a role when Makoto is exploring the bedroom. This would imply, prior to release, the developers revised the plot - this also implies some scenes in the future could be added between older scenes. 2019 The game was released as a free-to-play demo in May 2019, alongside a trailer Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XjHTDWQTQBI, and quickly gained traction for its unprecedented quality. Updates in the following days improved VR functionality and dealt with bugs. The game came with a built-in option to play in Japanese or English, the latter translation provided by Alicemagic Alicemagic's DeviantArt Account - https://www.deviantart.com/alice-magic. It was announced the game had been in development for several years and the team's plan was to release the full finished product on Steam some time in 2020 - this is subject to change. One month later in June, Version 0.52 was released, bringing new features and an extension to the storyline. It had been previously announced this update would be free, like the last one, but the developers' financial concerns led them to make it available only to Patreon supporters. An apology was offered by the creators on June 30 which most people accepted: "Our financial situation and livelihood were tighter than we thought at the time, and we were left with little choice." On July 28, Version 0.53 was released to Patreon backers and 0.52 was made freely available. The update, among other things, introduced bug fixes, a pause function, basic outfit swapping for Chieri, and a smoother running speed. On the same day, a simple tier system was added to the Patreon page: $3 backers receive free updates, $5 backers are promised future "special VR videos that can be played on smartphones" - it is unclear exactly what this means at the moment. On July 31, Version 0.531, a small bug fix, was released. On August 30, Version 0.54 was released to Patreon backers. The update included 20 minutes of additional gameplay. The developers intended to include more but suddenly fell ill, thus unable to do so. On September 29, development delays meant an update was not available but images and a brief test clip were released. By now, it was clear the developers were struggling with the workload. On October 27, after two months without an update, Version 0.55 was released on Patreon. The update included a few more scenes such as additional content for an earlier part of the game, on top of minor features such as another outfit swap option. Overall, v.0.55 continued a trend of small updates and the developers explained they were under a great deal of stress. It was announced that changes to scheduling and development procedure would be coming soon: "We originally intended to release the game on Steam either by the end of the year or by the start of next year, but we're fairly behind on our original schedule ... Seeing as he Aoigai would be in charge of the majority of the scenes starting next year, there will have to be a change in our work system." On November 7, Version 0.551, a minor bug fix, was released. On November 30, Version 0.56 was released on Patreon. The update included new scenes for the city route and an alternative shrinking route. No system-related alterations were included. On December 7, Version 0.561, a bug fix, was released. On December 29, following an update report, Version 0.57 was released on Patreon. The updated included a new minor scene added to the city route, as well as an experimental "free-play mode" allowing the camera to move wherever the player wants it to in a scene. The update came with a few notes on future development; from 2020 on, "the monthly updates will either be as short as this one, or we'll have to release updates that contains 2-3 scenes once every 1 to 2 months". An apology was offered, and it was announced the city route would be continued but development on it would be postponed. Overall, 2019 saw the game expand massively from a single free-to-play demo into a sprawling multi-routed adventure game with dedicated supporters and financial contributors, all prior to official release. Despite great progress, this year also saw the developers crushed under the weight of their own expectations and the demands of an excited community. Development slowed to a crawl at some points with only minor, albeit necessary tweaks made for some updates. Looking towards 2020, it was made clear that things would not improve in this regard, at least for a while. 2020 On January 12, a 64-bit version of the game was released on Patreon. This was alongside the announcement that the 32-bit version was being discontinued. On the same day, a Patreon poll asked people to pick between some new outfits for Chieri: bikini or school swimsuit. After several days, bikini won the poll by a ratio of almost 3:1 against the school swimsuit with over 800 voters involved overall. On January 19, the developers announced that due to priority being placed on bug fixing and "creating new materials", January would see no new content. This was unsurprising given the workload the developers had to deal with and most supporters were accepting. On January 31, the developers revealed progress they had made on Chieri's bikini and a new bathroom scene, explaining they would be focusing on the personal route as opposed to the city route for the foreseeable future. Reception towards this news was positive overall. Currently the game remains in development and updates release on Patreon every 1-2 months. The developers have been happy to answer most questions submitted to them and welcome suggestions from the community. For example, MJ and Aoigai will occasionally hold questionnaires concerning what new features should be included. Future features expected include several translations, voice acting, more customisation for Chieri, and a divergent path narrative with multiple endings. Reception The game has received acclaim within the size fetish community, being hailed as a revolutionary title in size gaming. Prior to this, few games had reached such notoriety in the community. Support has steadily grown with fans eager to have their suggestions included in the game, and the developers have been happy to take advice and conduct polls which has stimulated interest in the game. While the May 2019 demo exploded in popularity very quickly, it was not completely celebrated. The demo included three previews of content to come: a foot crush scene, city scene, and bottle entrapment scene. These scenes inferred Chieri would turn out to be a cruel character. While the majority of the 30-40 minute demo had consisted of gentle character interactions, there was some backlash over Chieri's shift in personality, particularly by those who preferred gentle content. This sparked arguments over the game's characterisation and target audience. In later updates, Chieri's shift in behaviour proved more gradual than expected and was partly explained through supernatural means, subduing criticism. Mixed reactions have also come with announcements of delays as the developers struggle under the weight of the project. Throughout 2019, MJ and Aoigai underestimated the complexity of development and update frequency suffered. This was met with a very mixed reaction as updates came nowhere near the length of the original demo, but as smaller updates became the norm throughout the year, fans became accustomed. MJ and Aoigai have stated that development will continue to be slow and this news has largely been accepted by now. Today, the game has been widely discussed with fan art and mods beginning to emerge. ResizeMe is financially backed by over a thousand people on Patreon and support grows with each update. Its notoriety is expected to increase upon official release on Steam; until then, the game remains little known outside the size community. Download See the game's Patreon page Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/resizeme/overview, blog Blog: http://resizeme.blog.jp/, or Fantia page Fantia: https://fantia.jp/fanclubs/18187. Modding The community surrounding this game has only just begun experimenting with mods but as time goes on, more in-depth alterations to vanilla gameplay are to be expected. The first mod was posted on Giantess City on January 2, 2020 by wex123467. Details are below. On January 7, MJ and Aoigai made it clear they do not appreciate community modding at this stage. "As game developers, we understand that people want to make mods for the game," they said, "however, we can't support people who extract and distribute the modified data before the game is even released. We have our own plans for the game and we cannot take responsibility for anything that may happen. If you're going to do it regardless, we ask that you at least do it privately or in secret..." To date, some modders have complied with this request, others have not. Below is a table of known mods for the game. Italics indicate an unofficial mod name. References